Purpose To assess if a polyphenol compound supplementation (Vertigoval ® ) could improve residual dizziness earlier after benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and relieve patients from this disabling symptomatology. Methods In this prospective, multicentric study, 127 patients were randomized in the treatment group (TG), who received a 60-day supplementation, while 131 patients were randomized in the control group (CG), who did not receive any medication. The dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) score, static posturography, and the visual analog scale (VAS) for both dizziness (D-VAS) and nausea/vomit (N/V-VAS) were used as measures of outcome at baseline and after 30 and 60 days. Patients were asked about efficacy and tolerance to the treatment. Side effects were examined. Results A statistically significant greater decrease was established in the TG for DHI, D-VAS, and N/V-VAS compared to the CG. On the other hand, static posturography did not show statistical differences between the two groups, though a better clinical improvement after 60-day supplementation was shown in the TG in comparison to the CG. We counted mild side effects in only 2 patients. Most patients reported an excellent or good efficacy and tolerance to the treatment. Conclusion Residual dizziness is a frequent condition of unknown origin that manifests as persistent disabling imbalance after successful repositioning maneuvers for BPPV. The decreasing postural control can affect the quality of life, contributing to falling and psychological problems. The supplementation with the polyphenol compound used in our study is safe, manageable, and appeared to be able to reduce subjective symptoms and improve instability earlier, decreasing the risk of potential complications.

Objectives/Hypothesis: The need for class I and II studies on the efficacy of liberatory maneuvers in the treatment of lateral canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (LC-BPPV) motivated the present double-blind randomized trial on the short-term efficacy of the forced prolonged position (FPP). Study Design: Double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Methods: Two hundred twenty-one patients with unilateral LC-BPPV met the inclusion criteria for a multicentric study. Patients were randomly assigned to treatment by FPP (116 subjects) or sham treatment (105 subjects). Subjects were followed up at 24 hours with the supine roll test by blinded examiners. Results: Among the sample, 67.4% and 32.6% of the patients showed respectively geotropic and apogeotropic variant of LC-BPPV. At the 24-hour follow-up, the effectiveness of FFP compared to the sham maneuver was, respectively, 57.8% versus 12.4% (P < .0001) in the total sample, 76.9% versus 11.3% (P < .0001) in the geotropic variant group, and 60.5% versus 17.6% (P = .0003) in the apogeotropic variant group, including resolution or transformation to geotropic variant. Conclusions: FPP proved highly effective compared to the sham maneuver. The present class 2 study of the efficacy of the FPP changes the level of recommendation of the method for treating LC-BPPV into a strong one.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) usually has a favorable course, although it is possible to observe BPPV with a high recurrence rate. Previous studies suggested that vitamin D deficiency might affect BPPV recurrences, and oxidative stress might play a complementary role in BPPV pathogenesis. This multicentric trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of oral nutritional supplementation with a compound of alpha-lipoic acid, Carnosine, and Zinc (LICA® (Difass International, Coriano (RN), Italy)), vitamins of group B and vitamin D in preventing BPPV recurrences. A total of 128 patients with high recurrence-BPPV were randomized in three arms: Arm 1 consisted of subjects with “insufficient” or “deficient” vitamin D blood levels, treated with daily oral supplementation of LICA®, vitamins of group B and vitamin D3 (800 UI), Arm 2 included BPPV subjects with “sufficient” vitamin D who did not receive any nutritional support, and Arm 3 included subjects with a “sufficient” serum concentration of vitamin D who received supplementation with a compound of LICA® and Curcumin. After six months of follow-up, a significant reduction of BPPV relapses compared to the baseline was found only in Arm 1 (−2.32, 95% CI: 3.41–1.62, p-value < 0.0001). Study results suggested that oral nutritional supplementation with vitamin D3 plus antioxidants can prevent relapses in patients suffering from high recurrence-BPPV.

SUMMARY Objective To study the frequency of canal switch in posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) treated by canalith repositioning manoeuver (CRP), quick liberatory rotation manoeuver (QLR) or Semont manoeuver (SM). Methods Retrospective study on 1158 patients, 637 women and 521 men suffering from geotropic posterior canal BPPV treated by CRP, QLR, or SM, retested after 15 minutes and about seven days. Results 1146 patients recovered from the acute phase; treatments failed in 12 patients treated with CRP. We observed 12 canal switches from posterior to lateral canal and 2 from posterior to anterior canal during or after CRP in 13/879 cases (1.5%) and after QLR in 1/158 (0.6%) with no significant difference between CRP vs SM and QLR. We did not consider slight positional downbeat nystagmus after the therapeutic manoeuvers as a sign of canal switch into the anterior canal, but as a sign of persistent small debris in the non-ampullar arm of the posterior canal. Conclusions Canal switch is rare for any manoeuver and it does not belong to the criteria to choose one manoeuver over another. Notably, due to the canal switching criteria, SM and QLR cannot be preferred over those with a more prolonged extension of the neck.